JMT 12. 8. 2019 – Wanda Lake to Evolution Meadow – 11.2 miles

(all images are clickable for a larger version)

• 

• 

• 

It was the day of the lakes. The trail started at Wanda Lake (11.400 ft), going down the Evolution Basin along Sapphire Lake (11.000 ft) and later the long and beautiful Evolution Lake (10.850 ft). A blue sky without any cloud created hot temperatures in spite of the elevation.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The landscape changed from alpine rocks with lots of snow patches gradually to green meadows.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

After the north end of Evolution Lake the trail bent from northbound to westbound, and soon I walked down steeply for nearly 1.000 ft descent into Evolution Valley. There I followed the trail on the north side of the valley and the creek, passing Colby Meadow and McClure Meadow.

I stopped around 5:45 pm close to Evolution Meadow (9.300 ft) to set up my tent on a granite block about 100 m north of the trail, then went off once more to collect water at a creek half a mile away. I did not find out how I can easily set a waypoint on my inReach for the position of my tent which would have been helpful on return.

Tomorrow morning I will have to ford Evolution Creek.